Leaves of Grass · Chapter
To Those Who’ve Fail’d explained
The speaker honors those who have failed in their grand aspirations, including unnamed soldiers, devoted engineers, ardent travelers, pilots, and unrecognized artists, vowing to build a monument for them high above all others, especially th
What happens
The speaker honors those who have failed in their grand aspirations, including unnamed soldiers, devoted engineers, ardent travelers, pilots, and unrecognized artists, vowing to build a monument for them high above all others, especially those cut off early by a fiery spirit and early death.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Immortality
The poem elevates those who died early or failed, granting them a symbolic immortal monument.
Individuality and Self
Celebrates the unique, often unrecognized individual striving against vast odds.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“To those who’ve fail’d, in aspiration vast, To unnam’d soldiers fallen in front on the lead, To calm, devoted engineers—to over-ardent travelers—to pilots on their ships, To many a lofty song and picture without recognition—I’d rear a laurel-cover’d monument, High, high above the rest—To all cut off before their time, Possess’d by some strange spirit of fire, Quench’d by an early death.”
For all who have failed in their grand ambitions—unnamed soldiers who fell in battle, dedicated engineers, overly passionate travelers, ship pilots, and many unrecognized artists and poets—I would build a monument covered in laurel, higher than any other, for those taken too soon, consumed by a mysterious fiery spirit, extinguished by an early death.
The speaker's promise to immortalize the forgotten and failed through a symbolic monument.